Amy smiled as she quickly put down a card. The pink hedgehog was enjoying spending the time with her hero. It was all she could dream of, really. They were the only two in the house, both enjoying the other's company. There didn't seem to be a care in the world. "I win." She chuckled and collected the deck of 52 cards.

Sonic started to think himself about the day as he watched the girl shuffle the cards.

Sonic and Amy had been at it pretty much the whole day. Amy decided to see what Sonic was up to in the morning. When she learned he had nothing to do, she asked if he wanted to play something together. He accepted and they agreed to play at his house. And that was the start of the time they were sharing. The two had played many games; cards, board and Wii.

Now, it was mid afternoon and the lack of a filling meal after breakfast was starting to show. Stomachs seemed to be growling every five minutes. Sonic was the first to actually say anything, though. "So, are you as hungry as I am?" Sonic asked as Amy dealt the cards out.

"I'm getting there."

"Alright," He said as his stomach roared hungrily, "If that doesn't let you know how hungry I am," He trailed off chuckling a little.

Amy laughed and looked up from her hand. She smiled and asked what he wanted to do.

Before he could answer the phone rang. "Maybe that's the guy I hired." He shrugged as he stood up to go get it.

"Hello?"

On the other end a feminine voice answered. "Hey, Sonic?"

"Rouge?"

"Yep, what's up?"

"Having a relaxing day here. You?"

"That sounds good. I'm setting up for the party." Sonic didn't remember anything about a party.

"What party?"

"Shadow's birthday is today! You didn't remember?"

"No, I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"Ah, fair enough. Well, I called to invite you over if you were interested. I'm thinking we're going to try and surprise him."

"Awesome!"

Rouge chuckled on the other end at her friend's enthusiasm. "So yeah, I tried to get Amy a couple times earlier today but I kept getting the message machine. I left one but she hasn't answered as she usually does. So, if you find her would you extend the invitation for me?"

"Sure."

"OK Sonic, thanks."

"No problem."

"So, will I see you tonight?"

"Yeah, it sounds good. When's it taking place?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. I've talked him into coming over to my place at 6 o'clock tonight. Personally I'm happy with the work, and I don't think he has any clue that I asked him for his birthday."

"Great! Well, I will definitely see you in a few hours then."

"OK, same here. Bye."

"Bye." Sonic hang up and turned to Amy.

"What was all that about?" She asked curiously.

"Shadow's birthday is today."

"Oh," Amy gasped, "I completely forgot."

"I know, me too."

"Yeah, wow. How did that slip my mind?" Amy took a minute to think, it never crossed her mind, "OK, so then, what do you want to do now?"

"First of all, how about we go get a bite to eat?"

"OK." Amy agreed as she put the cards back into their box and left them on the table.

"So, do you know where we're going for lunch?"

"I don't really care. I just need something in my stomach!" Sonic stated firmly.

Amy got the message and suggested they go to a diner that had pretty fast service along with good food. Without any protest, Sonic agreed and they headed out.

Over their meal, the two discussed the party and what they were going to do. "So," Amy said as she sipped at her drink, "I guess after this I'm going to go to my place and get a present for him."

"Good idea. I should probably do that, too." Sonic agreed as he made the mental note.

After that, the rest of the meal was followed with light conversation and plenty of eating. When they finished and Amy paid the bill, they said their 'see you's and all that before parting ways back to their homes.

Back at his home, Sonic flopped onto his couch as he began to think about what to get Shadow. Thoughts about what he had hinted wanting tried to make their way into his brain but couldn't. So then he thought of Shadow's likes and dislikes for an idea. "I got it! Man Sonic, you're a genius!" he suddenly exclaimed as he jumped up. With that he began the frenzy of getting it together.

And about 30 minutes later he was finished and had it wrapped up in a black and red box with a card tied to the outside. He smiled at what he thought was a good present for the hedgehog and set off to Rouge's house.

Along the way, about three quarters the way there, he met up with Amy. After saying hello, he asked about her present. "I bought him a ticket."

"What?" Sonic asked strangely.

"A ticket to a concert, silly!" She playfully nudged at his shoulder.

Sonic grinned and acknowledged that he was wrong. He kinda wondered why that one didn't cross his mind. "What'd you get?" Amy asked.

"Just a couple CDs of bands I found out he likes."

"We were thinking similarly." Amy giggled, "I think he'll like it. How do you know he likes them?"

"You can thank social networking sites for that. All I had to do was find his profile online and he had it spelled out what his favorite bands were." The two shared a laugh there and found themselves to be only a minute or two away from Rouge's house.

Sonic was first to knock. Rouge quickly opened the door. "Oh, how cute." She quietly said with a smile, "Hey, thanks for coming. I'm glad you could make it." She allowed them in.

They stepped in and didn't see anyone. Rouge noticed the curious look on both their faces and gave them their answer. "Behind the couches and such."

"Oh." They both nodded and walked over to the furniture.

Sure enough they could see Knuckles, Tails, Silver and Blaze all lined up awaiting the dark hedgehog's arrival. Sonic and Amy got behind the couch as well.

About 30 minutes later it was just about six PM. The doorknob made a squeaky sound as it was turned. Then the creaking of an opening door made itself known, and when everyone was sure the door was closed and there was no escape, they all jumped just as he asked if there was anybody home. "SURPRISE!" They all shouted at once.

"Son of a... you almost gave me a heart attack!" Shadow snapped in shock.

Everyone laughed as Rouge showed him a picture of what he had looked like about a minute ago. It was pathetic. His eyes and mouth were wide open in fear. His nose was all scrunched up and you could tell he had his arms up defensively. One would think he was staring at a monster twice his size that he couldn't outrun. That's how scared he looked.

"Wow Shadow, you want a minute to clean your self up now that we've literally scared the crap out of you?" Rouge teased.

"Thank you, but I'm good." He laughed it off as if it were nothing.

None of the guests had ever seen Shadow that easygoing, and it was a real shock for them. Usually he was kind of to him self or he didn't talk much. But here he was playing, laughing, and having an all-around good time.

Sonic never thought he'd see his once fiercest rival laugh like that, but there it was. A genuine laugh from Shadow the Hedgehog. He flashed his counterpart a signature thumbs up, to which, also, for one of the first times, he answered and gave one back. In fact, after putting up one thumb up he put up another!

But after that the conversations shifted to other things, a lot of Shadow's likes. That's when Sonic was glad he had looked up that profile on him. He was actually able to follow what some of the things Shadow talked about were.

The party went on quite normally, actually. Everyone finished the dinner and then plopped onto the living room couch to watch TV. After a half hour or so of watching TV, they decided to let Shadow open his presents.

Everyone could tell he was pleasantly surprised by the fact that people bothered to get him gifts, as well as wondering what they were. One by one, he opened them. By the time he had opened everything but Sonic and Amy's, the two hedgehogs almost sighed in relief at not seeing duplicate gifts of what they had gotten. He picked up Sonic's first tapped it. It sounded hollow. He started to open the box and realized what it was. "Cool. I love these guys." He held up the three CDs that were in the box, "How'd you know, Sonic?"

"Cause sometimes even the Faker listens." Sonic chuckled.

"But I've never said anything about these particular bands to you."

"Oh, well, I guess I must've gotten lucky."

"Sonic," Amy rolled her eyes, "How about some truth. You looked it up on his profile."

Sonic chuckled a little at that before admitting he had gone online to figure it out. Shadow just smiled and shrugged it off. He looked over at the last present of the night. It was from Amy. He shook the box and tapped at it. But the gift itself didn't seem to make a sound. He was very curious as he started unwrapping the box and then opening it. When he saw what was in there, he couldn't help but let out a little smile. "Wow, awesome. Thank you Amy." Shadow said as he picked up the concert ticket.

"It was nothing really." Amy smiled, just happy that she could get the hedgehog something he liked.

Shadow took a minute to thank everyone again. After, Rouge, Blaze and Silver began to pick up the empty boxes and wrappers. When everything was cleaned up, Rouge turned some music on through her radio. "So, anyone up for a dance?" She suggested.

Knuckles walked up and grabbed her arms, trying to start dancing, but she wouldn't budge. "No, not you knucklehead, the birthday boy." She pushed Knuckles out of the way and motioned for Shadow to join her.

Quickly he accepted and the two began their dance together. Tails started dancing by himself. Amy looked at Sonic, hoping he'd offer a dance to her. "Hey Sonic, come dance with me!" Tails exclaimed.

"Sure bro!" Sonic grinned and made his way to the yellow fox.

There, they started a carefree dance of just moving their feet and holding hands. Amy giggled a little at how funny they looked. But then her smile turned into a frown when she thought about the fact that her opportunity was just taken away from her.

She started falling into a trance at the thought of her dancing with her hero. A dreamy sigh escaped her lips as she imagined what it would be like.

It left her unaware of Knuckles walking up to her. The echidna followed that by grabbing her hands firmly and pulling her out of her thoughts and into the dance she was forced into.

She tried to shake her hands free, but to no avail. "Knuckles, stop. I don't really feel like dancing right now."

"Oh, sorry. You just looked bored." Red let go of pink as the echidna walked over to the corner of the room and started listening to the music.

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity to him, Sonic was finally relaxing. His thoughts were not with the house at the moment. Or anything really. He just took a look at Tail's face as it glowed with delight. He laughed a little at how foolish he must've looked, but didn't really care. It was all about having fun then. And he was sure having that. He looked over and saw Rouge and Shadow enjoying themselves, as well as looking very graceful. He noticed Silver and Blaze together, enjoying their calm dance. And then he saw Amy. Amy was just standing there. "Hey Amy! Why don't you join us?" Sonic called out to her.

"OK." Amy walked over and joined them in... well, whatever they were doing.

And so quickly hours were danced away. Everyone was starting to notice the time. Silver and Blaze were the first to leave. Tails then excused himself from Sonic and Amy's dance to leave. It left the pink and blue hedgehogs with their hands linked together.

Sonic blushed a little and yanked them free. "I better get going now."

"Oh. Alright, I might as well, too, then."

"Alright. Well, I'll call you if the builder comes by tomorrow."

"Ok, thanks. See you Sonic. I had a great day today."

"Me too. It was very fun."

"We'll have to do it again sometime."

"You never know," Sonic said as he turned to leave, "Bye."

He waived his hand as he opened the door and left, shutting it behind him. Once shut, he made a dash for home, meaning he got there in less then a minute.

What a day.